Introducing Phoebe, my 1990 Zephyr 550 B1

I got this bike (my first) last summer and I can't tell you how much joy she's brought to my life. I had no idea you could buy that much fun for a grand. For those of you that aren't familiar with the Zephyr, it's a 1990's update on the KZ line. Many (most) of the parts are the same, including most of the engine (which even has a "KZ" serial number). The main difference is the addition of an oil cooler and rear disk brakes as standard, a bit different styling (reminiscent of the Z1) and some other minor changes. These bikes are rare in the US, where they were sold for only a couple of years, but are common in Europe and Japan. They didn't get great reviews here when they first came out, but owners love them, me included. There are a few forums dedicated to the Zephyr but I can't get enough. They are similar enough the KZs (they ARE KZs really) that I thought it might be fun taking part in this forum.

Cheers!
Mark

Welcome aboard! Pretty bike! Ed

Nice!

I have some info on the cam timing for your Zeph in my signature (valve train warning link).

Some people use the CV30 carbs from your bike on KZ's and ZX's for racing.

That's a great looking bike. Pretty color, even a factory oil cooler. That is very nice indeed.
What did you pay for it, and how many miles are on it?

That's a very nice looking bike for $1,000. Nice score.

Motor Head: it said this in OP "I had no idea you could buy that much fun for a grand."

Thanks all. The bike has about 30K miles on it. It had closer to 25K when I bought it last summer for $1K. It was in pretty rough shape:



The pics I posted represent a whole lot of TLC getting the bike back into shape. It runs beautifully now and looks nearly new.

That's a sweet little bike you got there! A highly evolved and refined KZ550. Love the stainless exhaust, better brakes, better carbs, etc etc.

Nice find and it has cleaned up rather nicely. ! That stock exhaust sounds very quiet,

CoreyClough wrote: That stock exhaust sounds very quiet,

You say that like it's a bad thing
It's even quieter now with a carb cleaning/synching, tune-up, manual cam chain tensioner, etc. It does have a nice tone when the revs are high.
One day I'd like to install a screaming titanium exhaust like this Win McCoy -

Zaddict wrote:

CoreyClough wrote: That stock exhaust sounds very quiet,

You say that like it's a bad thing
It's even quieter now with a carb cleaning/synching, tune-up, manual cam chain tensioner, etc. It does have a nice tone when the revs are high.
One day I'd like to install a screaming titanium exhaust like this Win McCoy -

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Not at all. My bikes have never had the stock exhaust on them, and when i hear a stock system, it sounds very quiet. The cam chain noise(typical) is more noticeable when the exhaust is quieter. The expansion box in that stock system has always puzzled me. maybe have it removed???

I read a few threads that indicated that exhaust expansion box helps performance, but if that's the case the effects must be minimal because people don't tend to notice much when it's removed. Still, seems like it must serve some purpose if Kawasaki has gone through the trouble of adding it to these bikes for all these years (it's on Zephyr exhausts all the way through 2008). Here one of the relevant threads if you're curious -

www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum/kawasak...xhaust-question.html